Review Detail

Don’t Even Think About It was a nice, hilarious, cute-sy contemporary with a little paranormal twist. The gist of the story is that this whole group of kids develop telepathy because of a bad batch of flu shots. At first, things are confusing for them, and they come close to telling about it but they then come together and form a pact – not to tell anyone until they see how it goes. One by one, people start getting it and then nobody’s secrets are safe. On the plus side, their life gets easier – dating is not such a burden, authorities can be dealt with easily and even tests can be aced. However, being in each others’ heads all the time means no secrets among themselves, and overhearing things they are better off not knowing.

Told in third person, the story mostly highlights Mackenzie, Tess, Olivia and Pi. Mackenzie cheated on her boyfriend Cooper, a fact that everyone in the Espies (their group) knows about. Tess has a crush on Teddy, but can’t stand to hear him mooning over another girl. Olivia is shy but the ESP helps her get out of her shell, and Pi – well, Pi is just looking how to use the new power to her advantage. The others have their own sets of problems each, and even having a group as a support who know everything, it can get crowded in their heads. Granted they all stick to each other, but within themselves there is a lot of judging and gossiping going on – all thanks to no privacy. It’s all teenage drama but there is no escape for them even within their heads. Friendships are deepened and strained, couples are created and broken up, and shocking truths come forward.

The story progressed quite well, the plot layered into each character’s storyline. The pace was good, engrossing and never a dull moment. The writing, I am not so sure about – it was okay, and since it is teenspeak, it excelled there but felt like something was lacking. I’ve read the author’s other book Ten Things We Did, and the writing in this one was not at par to the latter. Nevertheless, it was a good book and am looking forward to the sequel. (It did say it was ‘coming soon’)